May 17, 2006

Abandoned Rear

Murtul 2, 1374, Undermountain

I can’t believe how much rest this group seems to need. I think we rested about 20 hours, maybe more, and it didn’t seem to help! I did get to know my comrades a bit better, though I obviously said something confusing, as I’ve been getting propositioned a lot. All I mentioned was that my deity, Bast, goes by the name of Sharess in the rest of the Realms outside of paradise, at which point the males in our party began making me “offers.” I don’t believe they had anything to offer, at least, not while we’re in Undermountain.

It was Kanelyth’s watch while some of this silliness was going on, but everyone abruptly became serious as we saw her get smacked with a club by a hulking figure in the dim light from our everburning torch. I yelled for everyone to get back from monster, which we determined was an undead ogre, and I attempted to turn the foul thing while Kanelyth quickly gulped down the healing potion we’d found earlier. I felt the power of Sharess (I’m trying to remember to call her by that name) coursing through me as I attempted to chase away the undead thing, but whatever was animating it was stronger than I. My comrades were whittling it down little by little with arrows, and Shoshiro and Flic were preparing to light it with my oil and a spell, when Eleioni decided he could fight it by going toe-to-toe with it! It hit him so hard I thought he was dead, and it nearly killed me as I ran to stand between it and what I thought was the aasimar’s corpse. Luckily, Flic was able to light the oil with a spell, and with the damage from the rest of them shooting arrows at it, the undead creature fell.

Moments later, that same small beholder glanced in to our room, and then simply glided on past, off to do whatever it is beholders do.

I was so irritated by the entire situation— how can we hope to compete in this treasure hunt when we get attacked in our camp? We have no map, no hint of where the item we seek is located, and this is a mass of dank, dark, dangerous tunnels. What I wouldn’t give to be in the dry desert heat of Mulhorand right now! I tried to calm myself and pray for the power to heal my new friends. By morning, I was able to heal Eleioni; I got him healthy enough to be conscious, but held of healing him entirely— I need to be able to help the rest of the group if the need arises. I knew he’d regain his health faster if he rested; we opted to leave him in a relatively safe room while we carefully explored some areas nearby.

We found a long chamber lined with statues of male and female human warriors in various poses. Flic thought they looked a little too well-sculpted, but since they looked to be made of the same stone as their respective bases, I think they are genuine statues, not humans turned to stone. We couldn’t learn much from them—there had been writing on them at one point which had been scratched off. I noticed a faint enchantment spell on each.

We attempted to slide one, to see if anything unusual would occur. It fell over, cracking into hundreds of pieces, and we found 14 gold pieces in a little hollow underneath where it stood. That was all the excuse Eleioni needed to come see what he was missing!

Kanelyth was horrified by the destruction of such a nice statue. I agreed not to help break any more of them, but Eleioni helped Shoshiro and Flic push another over, revealing a crevice containing a single moonstone hidden beneath the statue. Suddenly Flic looked up and said “Someone’s coming!” just as his owl flew into the long room. We quickly headed back to our “safe” room and tied the two doors shut with rope. Flic accused me of groping him as I grabbed him around the waist to add my weight to the rope securing the door. (As if I’d use such an excuse. For the record, he is definitely male.) Soon, we heard dozens of booted feet clomping past our hiding place, and something attempted to yank the door open, but was unable to with our combined weight keeping it shut. The booted army moved on, eventually out of earshot. Just to be sure, we stayed put for at least another hour, barely speaking above a whisper.

We decided to head out and search for our treasure in a different direction. I healed Eleioni up a bit more, since it was obvious he wasn’t going to stay and rest.

We came to an amazing room, lined with gold and marble, and containing an intricate throne made of bones. There was a definite snake motif— perhaps it was dedicated to Set. There was, however, a lone, purplish and bloated dead orc in the room, so my comrades decided to avoid it at all costs. Perhaps we’ll go back later.

We went back to the room where we’d been destroying statues earlier. Shoshiro got us through a trapped door we’d ignored earlier (getting nicked by a blade in the process!), and we walked through a maze of smaller passages, eventually coming to a room with a lever in the center of the floor, and a shaft in the ceiling. I’m curious to see which of us cannot resist temptation and pulls the lever.